JBL Northridge EC35 3-Way Center Channel – Cherry, Bi-Wireable

The three-way EC35 in the uncommon Cherry finish, four transducers and a genuine bi-amp panel.

What it is

Most center channel speakers are two-way designs with a tweeter wedged between a pair of woofers, and they spend their lives doing the hardest job in the system with the fewest resources. Dialogue sits squarely in the midrange, and a two-way center asks its woofers to cover that midrange while also producing the bass — which is why so many of them turn muddy the moment an action scene starts underneath the talking.

The EC35 is the three-way answer to that. It carries four transducers: two 5.25-inch PolyPlas woofers, a dedicated 3-inch PolyPlas midrange, and a three-quarter-inch titanium-laminate dome tweeter. The crossover hands off at 800 Hz and again at 3.2 kHz, which means the voice band belongs to one driver that is doing nothing else. With the high, mid and low frequencies properly isolated, each transducer works a narrower range and works it more accurately. That is the whole argument for a three-way center, and it is audible on exactly the material that defeats lesser ones.

The JBL engineering

The PolyPlas cones are JBL’s patented material — a layer of viscous polymer over a corrugated cellulose base, stiff enough for clean bass and internally damped enough to keep the midrange free of ringing.

Above them the titanium-laminate dome sits in an Elliptical Oblate Spheroidal waveguide, JBL’s method of controlling how the treble spreads across a room. On a center channel that matters more than anywhere else, because the seat that matters is rarely the one directly in front of it. The waveguide is what keeps dialogue intelligible from the end of the sofa.

Between them is JBL’s Straight-Line Signal Path network, a deliberately simple crossover built on the principle that the less circuitry the signal passes through, the more of it survives to the drivers. The cabinet is ported with JBL’s FreeFlow flared design, which reduces the chuffing that plagues straight-cut ports when the bass gets demanding, and it is lock-mitred rather than butt-jointed.

The connection panel

This is the part people miss. The EC35 carries dual sets of gold-plated five-way binding posts — four posts rather than two, joined by removable jumpers. That is a real bi-wire and bi-amp capable panel on a center channel, which is uncommon at any price and close to unheard of at this one. Run it conventionally with the jumpers in place, and the option is waiting whenever you want it. The posts take bare wire, spades or bananas.

It is magnetically shielded, so it will sit on or beside a television without complaint, and the grilles are removable.

The finish

JBL offered the Northridge E Series in three finishes — Black Ash, Beech and Cherry. Almost every one you find is Black Ash. This is the Cherry, a warm red-brown that reads as furniture rather than as home theatre equipment, and it is much the least common of the three on the used market.

It is worth knowing that it is a very close match for Paradigm’s Light Cherry. If you are running cherry-finished towers and have spent any time looking for a center channel that does not clash with them, that search is a familiar kind of misery, and this is the sort of thing that ends it.

Condition

Very good. The cabinet presents well and the speaker is working properly.

The three-way center for people who have worked out that the center channel is doing most of the work.

Available for pickup in Kanata, or shipped across Canada and internationally — we have sent equipment to fifteen countries in the past year, each piece packed in-house in 275 lb test double-wall boxes. Live shipping rates for your address are calculated at checkout. Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. Available for audition by appointment in Kanata.

JBL Northridge EC35 Specifications

• Design: 3-way, 4-driver center channel, magnetically shielded
• Low-frequency drivers: two 133 mm (5.25 in) PolyPlas cones
• Midrange driver: 76 mm (3 in) PolyPlas cone
• High-frequency driver: 19 mm (3/4 in) titanium-laminate dome with EOS waveguide
• Crossover: Straight-Line Signal Path network at 800 Hz and 3.2 kHz
• Port: FreeFlow flared
• Frequency response: to 75 Hz (-3 dB)
• Sensitivity: 91 dB
• Impedance: 8 ohms
• Power handling: 75 watts continuous, 300 watts peak
• Maximum recommended amplifier power: 150 watts
• Terminals: dual sets of gold-plated 5-way binding posts, bi-wire and bi-amp capable
• Cabinet: lock-mitred, removable grille
• Finish: Cherry (one of three offered: Black Ash, Beech, Cherry)
• Dimensions: (Width x Height x Depth) 22 x 7.3 x 10.4 inches (558 x 185 x 264 mm)
• Weight: 22 lbs (10 kg)

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